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Brown cotton fiber is the major raw material for colored cotton industry. Previous studies have showed that the brown pigments in cotton fiber belong to proanthocyanidins (PAs). To clarify the details of PA biosynthesis pathway in brown cotton fiber, gene expression profiles in developing brown and white fibers were compared via digital gene expression profiling and qRT-PCR. Compared to white cotton fiber, all steps from phenylalanine to PA monomers (flavan-3-ols) were significantly up-regulated in brown fiber. Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry analyses showed that most of free flavan-3-ols in brown fiber were in 2, 3-trans form (gallocatechin and catechin), and the main units of polymeric PAs were trihydroxylated on B ring. Consistent with monomeric composition, the transcript levels of flavonoid 3′, 5′-hydroxylase and leucoanthocyanidin reductase in cotton fiber were much higher than their competing enzymes acting on the same substrates (dihydroflavonol 4-reductase and anthocyanidin synthase, respectively). Taken together, our data revealed a detailed PA biosynthesis pathway wholly activated in brown cotton fiber, and demonstrated that flavonoid 3′, 5′-hydroxylase and leucoanthocyanidin reductase represented the primary flow of PA biosynthesis in cotton fiber.

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Facial expression recognition is mediated by a distributed neural system in humans that involves multiple, bilateral regions. There are six basic facial expressions that may be recognized in humans (fear, sadness, surprise, happiness, anger, and disgust); however, fearful faces and surprised faces are easily confused in rapid presentation. The functional organization of the facial expression recognition system embodies a distinction between these two emotions, which is investigated in the present study. A core system that includes the right parahippocampal gyrus (BA 30), fusiform gyrus, and amygdala mediates the visual recognition of fear and surprise. We found that fearful faces evoked greater activity in the left precuneus, middle temporal gyrus (MTG), middle frontal gyrus, and right lingual gyrus, whereas surprised faces were associated with greater activity in the right postcentral gyrus and left posterior insula. These findings indicate the importance of common and separate mechanisms of the neural activation that underlies the recognition of fearful and surprised faces.

At the interface of LaAlO3/SrTiO3 with film thickness of 3 unit cells or greater, a reproducible electric-field-induced bipolar resistance switching of the interfacial conduction is observed on nanometer scale by a biased conducting atomic force microscopy under vacuum environment. The switching behavior is suggested to be an intrinsic feature of the SrTiO3 single crystal substrates, which mainly originates from the modulation of oxygen ion transfer in SrTiO3 surface by external electric field in the vicinity of interface, whereas the LaAlO3 film acts as a barrier layer.